CLAD head to toe in green and gold, excited children blasted air horns as they followed their heroes from the field on Sunday – and it is those stars of the future the current Glen crop aim to inspire, according to Emmett Bradley.
The Derry champions recovered from a rocky first half to eventually overcome Errigal Ciaran at Celtic Park, setting up an Ulster semi-final showdown against Antrim kingpins Cargin.
Last year Glen came up short at the same stage, losing out to eventual All-Ireland champions Kilcoo after extra-time.
But, 12 months down the line and with a second successive county title under their belts, Bradley hopes those experiences will stand to them as they bid to deliver more big days for the club’s young followers.
“Kilcoo beat us in the semi-final last year and, to be quite frank about it, they deserved to beat us. We weren’t good enough on the day and that’s what we have to try and rectify,” said the Derry midfielder.
“The group itself is very humble, there’s nobody resting on their laurels. They’re a very ambitious group, a very ambitious club and the club’s really rowing in behind us. We’re all just trying to push the thing in the right direction, trying to inspire a younger generation of Glen players to show them what they could be capable of.
“We’ll keep our feet firmly on the ground, prepare for the Cargin game and hopefully we can produce a better performance than tonight.”
The Toome men - who dramatically defeated Donegal champions Naomh Conaill on penalties to seal their spot in the last four - are not completely unfamiliar foes either.
However, Bradley knows an entirely different challenge awaits when they lock horns on November 27.
“We’ve played Cargin in a couple of friendlies - but it’ll certainly be no friendly,” smiled the 29-year-old, who popped up with two brilliant second half scores on Sunday as Glen turned the screw.
“We know plenty about Cargin, they’re a really dogged outfit, they have a lot of quality, a lot of experience - a lot of championship experience.
“Each and every championship round, our intention is to get better. We have to be better than we played here tonight, that’s the only way we’re going to beat Cargin.”
And while boss Malachy O’Rourke and his players may pick holes in certain aspects of Sunday’s performance, especially a kamikaze first half when they struggled to quell Errigal’s attacking threat, there was also plenty to be positive about.
Having restricted their opponents to just four points in the second half, Glen eventually imposed their will on the Tyrone men to edge across the line.
But, with the ball now rolling on what is only Glen’s second Ulster campaign, Bradley believes there is still plenty more to come.
“They pushed us to the pin of our collar - we always knew they were going to.
“Errigal have a proud tradition, a richer tradition than we have… we’ve only started to build it. We knew we were going to be up against it, they’ve a lot of star quality, a lot of men on the Tyrone panel with All-Ireland medals, so we knew the quality they had.
“Obviously we were coming in as favourites, we don’t really look into that because we know the quality that’s in Ulster. You’re playing the best of the best, the cream of the crop, and we knew we had to be at our best to win that game and grind it out.
“The first half was a wee bit frantic, we were probably doing things we hadn’t been doing throughout Derry. That comes with the territory of being in a new competition, a new environment.
“When you’re playing in high stakes competition like this, it’s very easy to lose your way a wee bit but at half-time the message was very clear – relax, keep it simple and keep doing the things you’re good at. That’s what brought us back into the game.”
